In December 1999, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was shot dead at a charity event in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park by a lone assassin, a young African-American man named Alek Hidell. While fleeing his perch on the roof of the Park Plaza hotel, which overlooks the park, Hidell was shot and killed by a rookie police officer. At least, that's the official version of the events.
The Film
In Nothing So Strange, filmmaker Brian Flemming follows the grassroots organization Citizens For Truth for more than a year as they attempt to uncover the truth about the "assassination" of Bill Gates. Equal parts Spinal Tap and The Blair Witch Project, the film is nearly flawless in its creation of the alternate universe in which these events take place.
The film begins innocently enough with video footage of the actual event, followed by the Los Angeles DA's version of the murder, which bears more than a passing similarity to certain events that transpired in November 1963. Flemming has clearly spent time reviewing the myriad of JFK assassination documentaries, as the style and conventions in Nothing So Strange are dead-on. Everything from the animatics showing Hidell's likely escape route to the local news footage and press clippings resonates with striking authenticity.
Where the film really takes off, though, is in following the triumphs and tribulations of Citizens For Truth. Poking fun at conspiracy theorists is easy, but Flemming does it with such a light touch that it's clear he has genuine affection for his "subjects." Yes, they clearly are a group of misguided souls with nothing better to do, but the group, particularly ringleaders David James and Debra Meagher, are so passionate about their search for truth and justice that its hard not to like them even as you laugh at them.
Flemming is less forgiving in skewering the little league politics of small organizations. Watching the group vote on whether a 51% or 66% vote will constitute a majority in future votes is one of the funniest moments in the film, largely because it rings so true. Sections of the movie that focus in on CFT's decision making and planning could just as easily be about a PTA meeting.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Interesting Scott, but i personally found the film to be highly admirable but unlovable and repetitivie. It had one good idea, but it wasted it. The bill gates thing was pure stunt-writing, and could have easily been anyone.
Also, the commentary frustrated me no end. All this i elaborated on in my own review, yesterday i think. But good stuff. nice to hear differing views from ones own.
2 - Scott Pepper
The Gates assassination was incidental to the plot--the MacGuffin, if you will. I didn't find it particuarly inspiring as the inciting event, but I thought the film really manages to take the idea and run with it. By the last reel, the film had ceased to be about the murder or even the search for the truth, it was about the petty politics of the CFT, which I thought was a dead-on parody of almost any "activist" or grassroots organization, particuarly in the film's coda when the group splinters into two entities, one of which has 5 members and other other 3.
It is maybe a case of style over substance, but I also found the accuracy of the documentary style quite impressive, significantly more so than the much-lauded Blair Witch Project.
As for the commentary, I still maintain that it is funnier than the film itself, particuarly Flemming's interactions with David James, which are only hinted at the end of the film itself.